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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Firefly Aerospace | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | Methalox (LOX / liquid methane) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2021 | 2013 – 2022 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 6,000 kgas of [1]4,000 kg to 500 km SSO. Enhanced variant of the base Zhuque-2 with a common-bulkhead tank, TQ-15 thrust-vectoring engine on stage 2, and a niobium-alloy nozzle extension. A further-improved Block 2 first flew 2026-05-14 with subcooled propellant loading and a 3-ignition second stage. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 29 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 26 mas of [1] | — |
| Liftoff mass | 54 tas of [1] | 96 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — |
| Success rate | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | 100% since 2024-11-27 debutas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 7as of [2] | 6as of [2] | 2+ (2E variant)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | Firefly Aerospace's two-stage small-lift rocket powered by four Reaver engines at sea level and one Lightning engine in vacuum. Also provides launch services for NASA's CLPS programme (Blue Ghost lander launched on Falcon 9). FLTA007 'Stairway to Seven' succeeded Mar 11, 2026. | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | LandSpace's enhanced methalox launcher, the higher-performance successor to the original Zhuque-2 (the first methalox rocket ever to reach orbit, in 2023) — see slug 'zhuque-2' for the original vehicle already in our database. |
48 launch vehicles across 10 countries — active, retired, and in development — with primary-source citations from manufacturer user guides and agency press kits. Pure URL state: bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.